"Warden, I heard Sadie-chan was attacked by the Prison Beasts!"
"Gurgle—"
"...I deeply regret that."
"Pfft—"
"But the prison's operations can't stop. I'm willing to take on more dangerous work. Let me manage the Prison Beasts!"
"Clatter-clatter—"
The excessively frequent barrage of noises made veins bulge across Storm's forehead.
"Warden! Stop pulling already! I'm scared!"
Splash—
Accompanied by the loud sound of flushing, Magellan emerged from the toilet.
"Sorry, I had a bit of diarrhea. I just went through another fierce battle."
Magellan gently rubbed his stomach and spoke with a regretful expression.
"It seems the chicken soup I had this morning gave me food poisoning..."
I remember that when you drank chicken soup this morning, you even praised it, saying, "It's perfectly seasoned and tastes amazing."
The corner of Storm's mouth twitched several times.
"Warden, if you can't drink poisonous chicken soup, then don't drink it."
Storm advised him earnestly.
"Being a picky eater is actually a good thing."
"Hahaha, it's actually because I'm a picky eater."
Magellan laughed heartily and waved his hand without a care.
"As a 'Poison Human,' my favorite food is poison!"
Storm was speechless.
If he poisoned Magellan...
Would that count as feeding him or murdering him?
Magellan continued speaking.
"Although I shouldn't put it this way, isn't there an idiom... 'fighting poison with poison'?"
"You got diarrhea because you can't 'fight poison with poison,' right?!"
Storm cut Magellan off and couldn't help complaining.
"Why would a Poison Human get poisoned too?"
"That sounds as ridiculous as a cobra being poisoned to death by its own venom!"
"Storm, when did you become so venomous?"
Magellan looked at Storm in surprise.
"Could that Hannibal fellow with ulterior motives have rubbed off on you?"
"I—"
Storm was just about to answer when he promptly realized what was happening and forcefully dragged the conversation back on track.
"Warden! I want a promotion!"
"As expected, Hannibal's wolfish ambitions have rubbed off on you!"
Magellan rubbed his stomach and let out a long sigh.
"You've only been here for a week. Sigh..."
This time, Storm didn't need Domino's help. He retreated several meters on his own, avoiding the poisonous mist.
He didn't want to inhale the poisonous gas released by Magellan's sigh!
"Haha!"
Seeing the wary look on Storm's face, Magellan couldn't help laughing again.
"You're much sharper than Hannibal."
"Warden, Sadie-chan—"
"I know."
Magellan nodded and fell into thought.
Jokes were jokes, and laughter was laughter.
Magellan quickly regained the dignity befitting Impel Down's warden.
He seriously considered Storm's suggestion.
This newcomer, who had only arrived at Impel Down a week ago, had indeed exposed a serious problem the prison was facing—
There weren't enough people!
Impel Down had six levels of hell, and each one held an enormous number of prisoners.
Before being sent to Impel Down, these prisoners had all been ruthless criminals who feared nothing.
With so many dangerous people gathered together, daily management was extremely difficult.
In truth, Magellan had enough strength to suppress all of Impel Down.
The [Paramecia-Venom Fruit] was practically twice as powerful in the special enclosed environment of Impel Down!
The problem was that Magellan himself couldn't withstand the Venom-Venom Fruit's deadly poison...
Magellan was forty-one years old and lived on Impel Down's fourth level, Scorching Hell.
He had to suffer from diarrhea for ten hours every day to avoid being poisoned to death by himself.
After excluding the time he spent eating and sleeping, Magellan had less than four hours of work time each day.
That was precisely why Impel Down needed other jailers to help shoulder the warden's workload.
In the past, Shiryu of the Rain, who served as Deputy Warden, had been able to effectively assist Magellan in managing Impel Down.
Shiryu of the Rain was a man known alongside Magellan as one of Impel Down's "Iron Walls"!
But in recent years—
Shiryu's behavior had grown increasingly excessive.
Magellan had seen Shiryu slaughter prisoners more than once.
Impel Down held countless death-row inmates.
But that didn't mean Shiryu, a jailer, could take prisoners' lives whenever he pleased!
Recently, Magellan and Shiryu had clashed more than once.
Yet Shiryu still refused to change despite repeated admonishments.
The Warden spent every day busy with diarrhea.
The Deputy Warden spent every day busy killing people.
The prison's guard duties were basically divided among the other Jailer Chiefs and a large number of jailers.
But at this critical moment—
Sadie-chan had been attacked by the Prison Beasts...
Calling it an "attack" wasn't quite accurate.
According to Magellan's understanding—
While managing the Prison Beasts, Sadie-chan had encountered a little "resistance" from them.
And then she had been seriously injured.
Given Sadie-chan's current strength, managing the cold and brutal Prison Beasts was indeed too difficult.
While Sadie-chan recovered from her injuries—
Magellan had already intended to assign someone else to take on the task of managing the Prison Beasts.
For example, Hannyabal. Hannyabal. And Hannyabal again...
But now that Storm had volunteered to manage the Prison Beasts—
Magellan couldn't help hesitating.
On one hand, he somewhat doubted Storm's strength.
Sadie-chan was a young girl.
But Storm was only one year older than Sadie-chan!
Sadie-chan had been easily injured by the Prison Beasts.
Would Storm really be any different?
If Storm was injured one after another after Sadie-chan had been hurt—
Magellan's troubles would only increase.
On the other hand, Storm had been at Impel Down for far too short a time!
All in all, it had only been a week.
Even though Storm's daily performance had been outstanding—
He had trained the Blue Gorillas until they behaved like dogs.
The management of Crimson Lotus Hell had also proceeded without the slightest mishap.
But he had still only been there for a week!
Magellan pondered for a long while before making his final decision.
"How about this, Storm."
Magellan spoke in a deep voice.
"From now on, you'll be responsible for managing the jailers of both Crimson Lotus Hell and Beast Hell."
"As for the levels below that, don't worry about them for now—Ah! My stomach hurts!"
Magellan covered his butt halfway through his sentence and rushed into the toilet.
Left with no choice, Storm could only return to First Sea Level.
He had been promoted, but not completely promoted.
Storm's ideal outcome had been to take charge of managing all the jailers directly.
From the Blue Gorillas of Crimson Lotus Hell to the Prison Beasts of Scorching Hell, all of them would be under his management.
But now he had only gained one additional level: Beast Hell.
"I hope the jailers of Beast Hell are better than the Water Monkey!"
Storm returned to First Sea Level and entered his private office.
He didn't hurry to Beast Hell to inspect the situation. Instead, he first summoned the several [Big Trophies] he had obtained earlier.
After making a tour of Crimson Lotus Hell, he received eight [Bronze Trophies] and one [Silver Trophy].
Storm checked his ability list.
He put his only [Silver Trophy] into [Tekkai].
He invested the remaining eight [Bronze Trophies] into [Geppo], [Rankyaku], [Shigan], and [Swordsmanship].
Thus—
The star ratings of the abilities Storm had mastered became—
[Tekkai: ★★★☆] [Geppo: ★★★] [Rankyaku: ★★★] [Shigan: ★★★] [Swordsmanship: ★★]
All of Storm's [Rokushiki] had reached Three-Star level!
Even his [Swordsmanship], which he had now completely abandoned, had reached Two-Star level.
As long as he trained them afterward, the actual level of all these abilities would rapidly rise!
Just as Storm was about to continue creating [Clay Clones] and train his physical techniques—
An enraged voice suddenly rang out beyond his office door.
"Storm!"
Hannyabal pounded hard on the door.
"You had the guts to go looking for Magellan! If you have the guts, open the door!"
Storm flicked his right hand. His clay-transformed arm stretched out, pulling open the office door.
Hannyabal, who had just been preparing to charge through it, lost his balance and fell flat on the ground.
Lord Chief Jailer rolled into the Jailer Chief's office in an extremely polished fashion.
"Cough, cough!"
Hannyabal hurriedly climbed to his feet, a pathetic mess, and tried to preserve the dignity of the Chief Jailer.
"Storm! You actually went over to Magellan's side!"
"Huh?"
Faced with the accusation, Storm was completely bewildered.
"What are you talking about?"
"My informant already told me!"
Hannyabal charged up to the desk, planted both hands on its surface, and glared angrily at Storm.
"You went to Magellan's office and schemed with him for quite a while!"
"Are you planning to join forces with Magellan and overthrow my rule?"
There were simply too many flaws in Hannyabal's words.
Storm didn't know how to react for a moment.
But it would've been better if he'd said something.
Keeping quiet only made the misunderstanding worse.
Hannyabal flew into a rage.
Then flew into another one.
"Storm! You're a man I acknowledge—"
"Stop! That's enough!"
Seeing Hannyabal about to throw a tantrum, Storm raised his right hand and cut him off.
"I went to see the warden because I want a promotion."
"A promotion?"
Hannyabal froze.
"Could it be... Magellan doesn't have long to live, and he plans to leave the warden's position to you?
"Damn it! I was here first!"
"Listen, Lord Chief Jailer!"
Storm flicked his right hand. White clay turned into a chain and dragged Hannyabal over to him.
"I'm not interested in the warden's position!
"I went to see the warden because I want to take over Sadie-chan's job and manage the Prison Beasts!"
After hearing Storm's explanation, Hannyabal immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
But he still couldn't help complaining.
"Why go to Magellan over something so trivial?!"
"Trivial?"
"I'm the man who's going to become warden of Impel Down!"
Though he was wrapped up in clay, Hannyabal still spoke with great confidence.
"Managing the Prison Beasts is no big deal, is it?
"I'll help you!"
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